Another milestone in the inevitable progression of my MS
A bit further down the road
Something has definitely changed in the last few weeks. It was not an ‘Oh my God’ moment as in a flash of inspiration. Instead it was an ‘Oh my God’ realisation and it took a few weeks for me to understand. Let’s call it another milestone in the inevitable progression of my MS. Life moves on. I and my MS have taken another step forward in our relationship.
I enjoy gardening
Planting something in our tiny garden is always an experiment. Will it survive? Does it compliment the existing plants. It comes into flower and maybe there is some fruit. The flowering finishes, maybe the plant needs pruning back and next year there are flowers and fruit. Maybe you can split the plant to create two of them. Well my gardening time is well and truly over. The MS has progressed and claimed another part of my life.
New responsibilities
MrsB dropped a bombshell over Easter, “It is time for you to stop gardening. You fall over too often. Sooner or later you will hurt yourself”.
In fact I had taken a bit of a tumble on Easter Saturday and bruised my knee. I kept that latest piece of news to myself.
“B b but I enjoy it” I blurted and added “I haven’t hurt myself yet”. My pride had been injured. I knew what She was going to say next.
“Nope! Its got to be a sitting down hobby from now on. There are lots of pots and tubs that need looking after. Anyway I need you to tell me what needs doing in the garden. You must tell me which are the weeds and which are pretty plants”. She still knows how to make me feel wanted.
So that’s that. I’m now the pot man.
She relented on one thing. “You can still prune the roses but only if you can reach them while sitting on the rollator”.
Yup gardening, digging the soil and weeding the beds is now history.
So now I need to find something else to fill my time
For several years I have had to take photos with my mobile phone. OK it’s easy to whip out your mobile and take a snap but there does not seem to be much craft to it. Back in the day I used to enjoy photography but everything has moved on. Now you don’t buy a roll of film, take 35 pictures and then send it off to be developed. You then eagerly await the results, inevitably the pictures were a bit disappointing. No its now instant pictures
Another milestone in the inevitable progression
I am going to invest in a digital SLR camera and restart photography. The results will not win any prizes but it will make me happy. I broached the matter to MrsB. She said, “Well that’s your Christmas and birthday present sorted”.
So it was a strange Easter. No chocolate, ordered to stop gardening and restart an old hobby. Also it a picture tweet almost every day so look out for them All because the man has got MS.
April 2017
The trouble with gardening is that it requires fine motor movements, twisting, bending etc, so in fact although it looks ‘harmless’ it can be more hazardous than walking. And because it requires concentration and attention, misjudgements of one’s capacity are more likely…..Well, that’s been my experience!
Hello Kay
There are all sorts of dangers to gardening but if your bum is on a seat then an awful lot of them are removed. I know there is still the odd hazard but I do find it much safer and I can still get a lot of gardening pleasure. Give it a go on your rollator or mobility scooter
Sorry I missed this letter due to my worrying about moving and some holidays interrupted my flow of email reading in June. I hope you have since got your digital SLR to play with. I’ve got a Panasonic LUMIX fz 200 bridge camera with a Leica lens for snapping birds which I find quite handy but less professional than your choice. I would be interested in how you manage with the SLR . The rental house that we have moved into comes with a gardener which is just as well as my lawnmower went to my previous gardener and all my gardening tools have gone into store!
Hello,
The matter of camera is on temporary hold. I will probably end up buying a bridge SLR. W
e have gone one up on the grass front, we have an astroturf lawn. always green, never muddy and no mowing. Also I’m not allowed to garden, bad balance cos of footdrop and no sense of balance. I can’t even dig the ground without falling over. Curtains to one of my favourite hobbies 🙁